Magness Repeats as 5000m Champion on Final Day of Big Ten Indoor Championships

GENEVA, Ohio – Capturing the women's 5000m crown for the second-consecutive season, Jenna Magness was one of 11 Michigan State student-athletes to reach the podium at the 2022 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday in Geneva, Ohio.

The first MSU woman to be named back-to-back B1G 5000m indoor champion since Jamie Krzyminski's three-peat from 2002-04, Magness also became the second Spartan to secure a conference title this weekend after Sophia Franklin earned first place in the women's pole vault of Friday afternoon.

MSU kicked off the day in the women's weight throw, as Quiara Wheeler was able to get off a 20.95m toss on her third attempt, a distance that held up to earn Wheeler a sixth-place finish in her first Big Ten Championships appearance.

The finals for the women's and men's mile saw a pair of Spartans finish in third place, as Katie Osika used a late surge to post a 4:38.35 personal-record time and make it on the podium for the third-straight season. In Morgan Beadlescomb's first of two races on the afternoon, he notched a mile time of 4:09.03 to finish third while teammate John Petruno was just short of the podium with a 4:10.47 time that placed him ninth.

Freshmen Noah Sage (46.44) and Terrence Muex (46.54) both registered personal-record times in the men's 400m finals to place fifth and sixth, respectively, and earn a combined seven points for MSU.

Jaiden Paris followed up her school-record 8.25 time in Friday's preliminaries of the women's 60m hurdles by running an 8.31 in Saturday's final race, placing her third and clinching her best finish at the B1Gs after finding the podium in 2019 and 2021.

Despite wrapping up later than expected, the men's heptathlon had an exciting ending with Heath Baldwin earning third place at 5697 points and Ryan Talbot right behind him in fourth place with a personal-record 5,660 points. Baldwin used a third-place finish in the 60m hurdle (8.22) and fourth-place finish in the pole vault (4.70m), while Talbot was second in the pole vault at 5.00m and took fourth in the 1000m with a 2:45.18 time.

In what turned into a 12-second advantage over the next closest runner, Magness set the pace early alongside teammate Lynsie Gram before Magness kicked it into an extra gear halfway through the women's 5000m, posting a 16:09.73 time that won the Spartan her third overall Big Ten crown and easily beat runner-up Bethany Hasz's 16:22.37 time. For Gram, she was able to stay in the front of the pack to place seventh with a 16:31.64 time.

Beadlescomb was one of four Spartans to race in the men's 5000m finals, as Fraser Wilson and Steven Stine made it in via the unseeded 5000m race earlier in the day to join Beadlescomb and Abdi Ahmed. Staying with the pack at the beginning, Beadlescomb was towards the front as the race hit its last lap and made a move to briefly take first, but he was bumped twice in the final lap to place third at 13:56.61.

The final events of the conference championships were the men's and women's 4x400 relays, where Spartan men just missed the podium at a 3:13.14 ninth-place time, while the women placed 10th at 3:48.50.

In the final team standings, the Spartan women ended in seventh with 51 points, while MSU's men finished eighth at 37 points.

For Magness and Franklin, their performances earned them spots on the All-Big Ten First Team, the third indoor all-conference selection for both Spartans.

Magness Repeats as 5000m Champion on Final Day of Big Ten Indoor Championships

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Players Mentioned

Abdi-Fetah Ahmed

Heath Baldwin

Morgan Beadlescomb

Sophia Franklin

Lynsie Gram

Jenna Magness

Tee Muex

Katie Osika

Jaiden Paris

John Petruno

Noah Sage

Steven Stine

Ryan Talbot

Quiara Wheeler

Fraser Wilson